There’s something extremely satisfying about seeing the good guy win. CBS delivered hope and justice on Sunday nights with the Justin Hartley-helmed Tracker and viewers couldn’t get enough.
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Hartley is known for his role as Kevin Pearson in the award-winning, critically acclaimed NBC family drama This Is Us. As the show neared its sixth and final season, he joined forces with Ken Olin to find another project.
“Ken and I had developed this great friendship and we were actively looking for something to work on together,” said Hartley in an interview following Tracker’s first season finale. They were looking for something extraordinary. Though a few ideas piqued their interest, nothing excited them until Olin brought Jeffery Deaver’s best-selling crime novel “The Never Game” to Hartley’s attention.
Their intuition was spot on as the viewing numbers confirm. According to Nielsen, Tracker set records for CBS and broadcast television as the No. 1 non-sports show this season. The breakout drama marks the first time a new series has topped the charts since Survivor premiered on CBS in 2000. In addition to topping TV charts, Tracker made it to No. 1 on Paramount+ as the top streaming series based on subscriber reach since its premiere in February.
The series averaged more than 11 million real-time viewers per episode and the first seven episodes averaged 19 million multi-platform viewers per episode across broadcast and streaming with live plus 35-day viewing. Since its debut, more than 81 million viewers have tuned in to watch Colter solve crimes and save the innocent. Throughout the show’s first 13-episode season, Tracker gained popularity as episodes aired with Sunday night’s finale amassing 7.36 million real-time viewers and topping the night’s broadcast.
In Tracker, Hartley portrays Colter Shaw, a reward seeker who is a savvy, street-smart, vigilante with a heart of gold. He’ll stop at nothing to find the missing and ensure evil-doers get what they deserve. Though Colter is never in one place for long, he has a solid support network, including his handlers, Velma (Abby McEnany) and Teddi (Robin Weigert). Always at the ready to help are tech genius Bobby Exley (Eric Graise) and legal whiz Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene).
Hartley discussed why he believes Colter’s story resonated so well with fans and he made it a point to credit Deaver’s writing. “Ken was a big Deaver fan and so I read the book and immediately fell in love with this character. I hadn’t seen anything quite like it. I had a take on the character that was a little different than the book: What if this guy, who is this very capable, lone-wolf survivalist, who doesn’t know much about pop culture, and has this interesting backstory, what if we took what Deaver built and had this guy lead with his heart instead of his gun? What if he takes these jobs not because of the money but because he’s drawn to them because they tie into his past and this void he’s trying to fill?”
He adds that for a series to work, it has to revolve around an interesting character that viewers care about. Viewers tuned in weekly because they want Colter to help himself as much as he helps everyone else. “Deaver created this guy with a unique backstory. As he answers one question, that answer leads to four more questions. It’s a double-edged sword.”
Hartley also pointed out what he didn’t want this series to be. “One of the things I’m not interested in doing is a show that teaches the audience a lesson each week. I like that throughline where you get the event of the week but you also get something that makes you learn more about this guy. Now you understand his choices a little bit more. I also think people love a resolution in each episode. And there’s so much injustice in the world and this guy is like screw it. He knows the rules everyone plays by. He also knows they’re wrong and he takes care of things. At the same time, we keep it grounded. What makes sense for this guy to do? What risks is he willing to take? Colter isn’t necessarily a vigilante. He takes risks but he’s a percentage guy.”
Colter’s backstory and vagabond lifestyle deepen the mystery. “We see him on these jobs and he’s not on the run, but he’s certainly on the move. He’s very nomadic. He lives in an Airstream, bounces from town to town, and meets new people each episode. When we meet him, he’s done with the past. He thought he had all the answers.”
He soon learns that one must face the past and uncover its secrets to truly move forward. Colter thinks he’s solved the mysteries of his youth and that his brother is responsible for his father’s death. Now he’s questioning everything. “He realized that the things he believed about the past weren’t true. That would shake anybody,” said Hartley.
“At the end of the season, he’s running into the ocean to wash everything away. I think it’s temporary. At the beginning of season two, I think we’ll see him trying to figure out his past again. Why does everyone around him seem to know more about the circumstances surrounding his father’s death and why is everyone keeping this information specifically from him?”
